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Sustainable tourism helps destinations thrive

If you ever travel, you are either wittingly or unwittingly part of a delicate and complicated morass facing today’s tourism destinations: How do we attract and service the greatest number of tourists without causing irreparable change or damage to the destination’s resources? This is followed by a question that is still begging for an answer: Is the notion of sustainable tourism one that can truly be achieved in a practical, capitalist-minded world?

Before we look at a few examples, let’s look at some issues related to sustainable tourism.

Sustainable tourism
Most of us would agree in our travels we want to enjoy ourselves and do it in a way that causes “the least harm.” We want to maintain precious resources such as air, water, marine habitats and species, animal populations and indigenous peoples. However, in certain cases, tourism has been an actor in a tableau vivant of lost resources in various places around the world.

A big part of the problem is the lack of any across-the-board definition of sustainable tourism and its elements. Even the United Nations World Tourism Organization struggles to define sustainable tourism. Further, in most development scenarios, sustainable tourism is thought of in terms of whether the tourism itself is sustainable (economically viable over a long period of time) not whether the tourism is doing the least amount of harm to resources. This is not to say development impacts are not considered through required regulations but clearly the raison d’être of development is capitalism.

As a direct result of infrastructure advancements (as in the United States Interstate Highway System) in air and sea travel, globalization and technological advances resulting in a world-economy with burgeoning middle-classes, tourism is now one of the largest contributors to the world gross domestic product—estimated at 9% to 11% of global GDP, according to World Travel and Tourism Council. In the U.S., tourism is an extremely important industry. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce:

In 2011, 7.5 million jobs were supported by the tourism industry.

International tourism itself supported 1.2 million jobs.

Tourism is the largest U.S. export not “in a box.” That means tourism is a larger export than Hollywood rights fees and intellectual property licensing by Apple, IBM, etc.

Sobering facts
When you take a look at sustainable tourism, several looming issues reveal themselves. The rise of “mass tourism” has put enormous pressure on tourism destinations. One place that is still struggling with sustainability is the Galapagos Islands—the place Darwin visited where he found inspiration for his seminal works on evolution and where the Charles Darwin Foundation Research Station is headquartered. Despite being named one of the world’s first United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization protected sites and having its surrounding marine areas fall under the protection of a marine reserve, the Galapagos are falling victim to a powerful fishing lobby that has fought against (and successfully defeated) legislation to place limits on the number of sea cucumbers and shark fins that can be harvested.

The Galapagos is under-represented on the Ecuadorian government, and self-imposed restrictions on the number of tourists who can visit each year have routinely been overrun by more than 50%. This condition is known as “exceeding carrying capacity.”

When carrying capacity limits are exceeded, there are intense impacts on the area’s resources and its ability to provide basic things such as clean water, sewage, waste management and to house enough humans to service the ever-increasing tourist population. At this moment, several species on the archipelago are extinct, including the iconic giant tortoises once observed by Darwin on the Island Floreana.

Another phenomenon on the sustainable tourism front is known as last chance tourism. This deals with the concept of disappearing destinations and impels tourists to see them before they are gone. Sadly, what results is a “gloom, boom, doom” scenario where increased visitation exacerbates existing conditions and accelerates the negative impacts already plaguing the area.

An example of this can be found in the Arctic (Churchill, Manitoba, Canada) and the rush to see polar bears in their natural habitat. Climate change has made it possible for cruise liners to traverse deeper and deeper routes while kicking off various emissions (gray water, black water) that are not helpful to the environment. It is believed the only place where we will be able to see polar bears in 20 years is in a zoo.

There is hope: Bhutan, a shining example
While the lack of a global, coordinated sustainability plan is troubling, one finds hope in the individual efforts by peoples and countries all over the world. Right here at home, eco-friendly initiatives have made their way into the DNA of tourism and hospitality development processes. A cold-fusion of economic favorability married with earth-saving decisions is powering this new development paradigm.

Bhutan, a land-locked state in South Asia, stands as a potential shining example for the concept of sustainable tourism. A place that literally measures the gross national happiness of its people, Bhutan has placed certain restrictions on its tourism product that is both sustainable and profitable. For instance, Bhutan has strict limits on the number of non-Indian visitors. Further, Bhutan requires a certain amount of money spent each day by the visitor and requires visitors to hire and be escorted by a guide their entire stay. This prevents tourists from taking home a piece of the destination as is the case with the now threatened ruins of Machu Picchu. In September 2012, “Time Magazine” named Bhutan as “the last authentic place on earth.”

With the excellent example of Bhutan, and the sincere efforts of the members of the travel and tourism community, it is possible for truly sustainable tourism to exist. Every step taken in that direction combines to form a new reality—a reality we can proudly pass on to generations to come.

Sustainability & Business is a blog published by 100SD, a Costa Rican company dedicated to providing planning and execution services of sustainable development projects for companies and investors engaged in economic activities in hospitality, tourism, property development, and industry. The articles published below are intended to offer students, professionals, investors and entrepreneurs a source of updated information that promotes global progress on sustainability.